King of the Hill
by Hawki
Summary: Oneshot: John always won in king of the hill games. But as his abilities ostracized himself from others, he found himself losing in a different, more important sense.


_I wanted to ask you what you were doing?_

_Winning._

Conversation between Catherine Halsey and Spartan-117, 2517

* * *

**King of the Hill**

John briefly wondered why the game was called king of the hill.

It was a brief thought, but considering that he was the smartest boy in his year (at least according to his parents and some teachers), it was a thought that went through much consideration. What was a king, for starters? Some kind of ruler on Earth as far as he was aware, but even Earth's existence could have been made up as far as he knew. And why hill, since all he and the other children had to play on was some pitiful slope near the gravball field? And even if he was to be the ruler of the slope/said hill, why king? Why not president? Or prime minister? Or chancellor? Or...

"Hah! Take that you-..."

Never mind. Thomas had just sent Hans tumbling down. And since sending people tumbling was John's job, he was obligated to send Thomas tumbling after him.

"Ow!"

And in this case, making him whine. Baby. Hans wasn't crying, was he?

Now in the position of being king/president/random term here again, John cast his gaze back to the gravball field, wondering if he'd be allowed to play again. After all, it wasn't his fault that he'd given Jason a concussion, was it? Parisa had vouched for him hadn't she, even after Medeski yelled how much he hated him for shoving him into the grass. People seemed to be doing that a lot nowadays for some reason. They seemed to resent him winning. Resented having to look up to him all the time, whether it be his above average height or him being at the top of the hill. Or slope, as Andrei's tumbling attested to.

"Oof."

_Ah great, here we go..._John reflected. _More moaning about how...hmm..._

Having moved passed baby books, John considered himself to be widely read. Widely enough to be aware of the term "a break in the waves." And as he stood as king above his inferiors, it did indeed seem that the game had reached such a break. True, some of the kids were slouching off like the defeated losers that they were, but some kind of unspoken agreement seemed to be passing through the remaining peons.

_A revolution's in progress...good..._

From what John remembered, kings lost their heads in revolutions if they weren't careful. So had President Wilson back in 2319 if the movie he saw last night was correct. Either way, he was quite intent on keeping both his head and his position, so as the children charged, he stood ready to maintain his divine right.

"Come on! Move together!"

John let out a brief smile at Pavel, having apparently established himself as the ringleader of the rebels. He was a good guy. _He_ knew that the rough and tumble of sports was all in good fun. _He _knew that it was all just a game. _He _could be relied upon to give him some measure of challenge.

"Heads up John!"

Or not, at least in the first wave. Jack was sent flying, Jill came tumbling after him and Pail, who'd been the first to fall, started helping himself to some water from a nearby tap. But surely the cream of the crop was coming. And on cue, Pavel lunged at him, actually driving him up the hill. Not to cement his position though, but the two titans found themselves locked in battle on the very top. Even as Pavel's servants turned traitor and tried to send them both tumbling, the two fended them off. Allies by necessity. Allies by circumstance. Allies...

"You're going down John."

Screw that. Allies no more. And giving his friend a shove, John saw to it.

He also saw the way Pavel fell...sailing through the air...narrowly missing Pail, only to crack his head against the tap.

He also saw how many of the children screamed, either running off in defeat or crowding around in morbid horror, staring at the blood starting to pool out of Pavel's crown. For his own part though, John remained in place. He was king...but was the game still on? Would he lose his own crown if he stepped down?

"Pavel? Pavel?" Jill asked.

"Get...get a teacher..." Jack stammered.

_Babies..._John thought. _I'm surrounded by babies_.

Well, it didn't matter. He could count on Pavel to be his friend still. He knew it was all in good fun. He understood the nature of rough and tumble play.

And until his now former friend regained consciousness, the 'king' continued to believe that.


End file.
